I am a US Army officer with eight years of active duty service as a helicopter pilot with nearly all of my service being in leadership roles of increasing responsibility throughout my tenure.
Background:
White male
Undergrad GPA of 3.45 at top 100 university in the US
Consistently ranked among top 10-15% of peers in the Army
I have taken the GMAT twice. Both times I did self-study only with the following results:
Dec 2009:
Q 43
V 38
Total 660
Jun 2012
Q 42
V 40
Total 670
Some programs I'm considering include:
HBS
MIT Sloan
NYU Stern
Kellogg
Given my background, would I be relatively competitive for admission at these MBA programs and should I shift focus to essay writing or should I give the GMAT another shot? Also, with this GMAT score are there certain industries/career tracks I should focus on in my applications to make the 670 less of a factor?
I appreciate your advice!
Nick
GMAT Forum
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Re: Profile Evaluation (670 GMAT)
Hi Nick,
Thanks for reaching out, and thanks for your service. I think your Army experience is going to definitely help your case -- generally speaking, candidates that I've worked with in the past tend to come out of the military with phenomenal leadership experiences, which makes for great fodder for essays, interviews, etc. The 670 is a decent score -- as to whether you retake the test, that depends a lot on your personal risk tolerance and your confidence in yourself. If you think you could retake the GMAT and score above a 700, it may be worth it. Given, however, that your scores thus far have been in a pretty narrow window, seems safe to say that taking it a 3rd time would result in a similar score, and therefore would be a waste of time. Again, it's a personal decision, but I'd suggest shifting your focus to the application itself.
All that said, I'd also suggest you round out your target schools with some safer options. This is also a really personal choice - some candidates only want to attend business school if they get into certain schools, others want to attend business school no matter what. Depending where you fall on this scale, I'd suggest that there are other really great schools that might be a bit safer that you could consider adding to your list to help hedge your bets. Michigan, Duke, Darden for example could be great additions, depending on what you're looking for in a school.
I'd say the GMAT and your career narrative are considered separately within your application. So, just because someone wants to do HR does not mean they can get away with a lower GMAT score, and someone wanting to do finance need not score way above average. Take these two in isolation. When it comes to your career narrative, it is important that it logically tie in some way to your background, and that business school be a logical way to achieve your end goal. So, perhaps you want to work at a defense consulting company eventually, but feel you need quant skills to be prepared for that kind of role. In this example, you bring the defense industry experience to the table, business school gives you the quantitative skills you are lacking, and you are then on your way to your goal. There are hundreds of possible career goals you could choose - and it doesn't absolutely have to be grounded in your military experience -- it could be grounded in your personal experience. Bottom line is that you should be able to demonstrate an interest, passion, or experience in some aspect of the ultimate career goal and also be able to demonstrate how business school will help you fill the gaps you have toward attaining that goal. The GMAT score is separate, so don't fret about that.
I hope this helps. Best of luck!
Mili
http://www.mbamission.com
Read the mbaMission Insider's Guides (16 individual school titles)
Download mbaMission’s Free Personal Statement Guide
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Thanks for reaching out, and thanks for your service. I think your Army experience is going to definitely help your case -- generally speaking, candidates that I've worked with in the past tend to come out of the military with phenomenal leadership experiences, which makes for great fodder for essays, interviews, etc. The 670 is a decent score -- as to whether you retake the test, that depends a lot on your personal risk tolerance and your confidence in yourself. If you think you could retake the GMAT and score above a 700, it may be worth it. Given, however, that your scores thus far have been in a pretty narrow window, seems safe to say that taking it a 3rd time would result in a similar score, and therefore would be a waste of time. Again, it's a personal decision, but I'd suggest shifting your focus to the application itself.
All that said, I'd also suggest you round out your target schools with some safer options. This is also a really personal choice - some candidates only want to attend business school if they get into certain schools, others want to attend business school no matter what. Depending where you fall on this scale, I'd suggest that there are other really great schools that might be a bit safer that you could consider adding to your list to help hedge your bets. Michigan, Duke, Darden for example could be great additions, depending on what you're looking for in a school.
I'd say the GMAT and your career narrative are considered separately within your application. So, just because someone wants to do HR does not mean they can get away with a lower GMAT score, and someone wanting to do finance need not score way above average. Take these two in isolation. When it comes to your career narrative, it is important that it logically tie in some way to your background, and that business school be a logical way to achieve your end goal. So, perhaps you want to work at a defense consulting company eventually, but feel you need quant skills to be prepared for that kind of role. In this example, you bring the defense industry experience to the table, business school gives you the quantitative skills you are lacking, and you are then on your way to your goal. There are hundreds of possible career goals you could choose - and it doesn't absolutely have to be grounded in your military experience -- it could be grounded in your personal experience. Bottom line is that you should be able to demonstrate an interest, passion, or experience in some aspect of the ultimate career goal and also be able to demonstrate how business school will help you fill the gaps you have toward attaining that goal. The GMAT score is separate, so don't fret about that.
I hope this helps. Best of luck!
Mili
http://www.mbamission.com
Read the mbaMission Insider's Guides (16 individual school titles)
Download mbaMission’s Free Personal Statement Guide
Visit the mbaMission Blog
Follow mbaMission on Twitter
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